7 Movies to Watch This Labor Day Weekend

If you’re lucky enough to have time off this Labor Day weekend, put in a few extra hours with a movie or two about the workplace. Whether they are set in cube farms or factories, the stories of workers’ struggles and triumphs will always have a place in the movies. Here are 7 to start with. Get to work.

Best Office Film

‘Office Space’Where to Watch: Rent it on Amazon, iTunes and other streaming platforms.

Mike Judge’s 1999 satire is a staple for any disgruntled worker. Peter Gibbons (Ron Livingston) and his friends are tired of being taken advantage of by their loathsome boss, so they concoct a scheme to siphon money from their software company. While the movie mostly targets white-collar corporate culture, Jennifer Aniston’s waitress character gets her chance to stick it to her horrible boss at a chain restaurant. —

Best Office Romance

‘Desk Set’Where to Watch: Stream it on Netflix; Rent it on Amazon, iTunes and other streaming platforms.

As one of the most popular screen couples of the 1940s, Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy played professional competitors in classics like “Adam’s Rib” and “Woman of the Year.” In 1957’s romantic comedy “Desk Set,” they’re back at it, with Tracy playing an efficiency engineer hired to install a machine that will force Hepburn’s researcher out of her job. Just because they were a little further along in their careers at the time doesn’t mean their chemistry had dulled.—

Best Reason to Punch the Clock

Charlie Chaplin’s lovable Tramp character is put to work in a factory during the Great Depression and doesn’t stay out of trouble for long before becoming a nuisance to his coworkers, employers and equipment. Stuck in humiliating situations — like being force-fed on the assembly line and told to work at a cartoonishly fast pace — Chaplin’s Tramp satirizes the era’s dire workplace conditions. “Modern Times” (1936) is a plea to remember the human working the machine.—

Best Labor Musical

‘Newsies’Where to Watch: Rent it on Amazon, iTunes and other streaming platforms.

Based on a real 1899 strike by boys who sold newspapers in New York City, this energetic musical follows Jack Kelly (Christian Bale), a newsboy who dreams of escaping West to Santa Fe, as he and other newsies organize against Joseph Pulitzer (Robert Duvall) for raising the distribution price of the papers they sell. The movie bombed at its 1992 release but has since found a loyal following among those who appreciate a musical about child labor laws.—

Best Worst Boss

‘9 to 5’Where to Watch: Rent it on Amazon, iTunes and other streaming platforms.

Three co-workers (Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin and Dolly Parton) bond over the terrible treatment from their sexist boss and devise a plan to wrest control of the office from his tyrannical rule. It’s a silly comedy with some outrageous moments, but even in 1980, the movie pushed for equal pay, day-care programs and the health of its female employees. Shame that didn’t catch on as much as Ms. Parton’s theme song for the film.—

Best Climbing the Corporate Ladder Movie

With a little ambition and a lot of drive, a Wall Street secretary, Tess (Melanie Griffith), pretends to be her idea-stealing boss (Sigourney Weaver) for the chance at a big project with an attractive executive (Harrison Ford). Perfectly encapsulating the Wall Street era with big hair, big shoulder pads and the corner office, “Working Girl” is an upbeat ode to toiling your way to the top. With bonus points for a hilarious Joan Cusack performance. —

Best ‘But It’s My Day Off’ Movie

‘Clerks’Where to Watch: Stream it on Starz; Rent it on Amazon, iTunes and other streaming platforms.

In Kevin Smith’s black-and-white low-budget 1994 feature debut, Dante (Brian O’Halloran) is forced to work at the convenience store on his day off. Over the course of his shift, Dante hosts a hockey game on the store’s roof, talks pop culture and relationship problems with the clerk from the video store next door (Jeff Anderson) and unsuccessfully tries to get the resident loiterers, Jay and Silent Bob (Jason Mewes and Mr. Smith), to leave. Very little work is actually accomplished.—